Two of the UK acoustic/folk scene's finest songwriters - Steve Tilston and Jez Lowe – put their heads together and ‘The Janus Game’ is the thought provoking result. A serendipitous meeting in the US amid their prolific individual touring schedules instigated a collaboration between two award wining songsmiths, consummate musicians, and personal pals, that blossomed into a joint UK tour filled with songs and music, chat and banter and intimate insights into their approach to their craft. A natural extension of the song-swapping and packed-house performances was to take the music into the recording studio. All the tracks on this album are new songs co-written by Steve and Jez. Like Janus, the two-faced god of mythology alluded to in the title track, many of the songs across the album look to the past, and to the future, to truth and to deception, to war and to peace. Taking on familiar yet thorny topics - such as the UK’s industrial heritage, the multi-faceted (both personal and political) impacts of migration, and the dreams, longings and memories we all harbour as we grow older - the challenging and stimulating lyrics of this album are enriched by the “absurdly accomplished”, multi-instrumental accompaniments of this formidable duo together with some of their equally talented friends. STEVE TILSTON released his début album An Acoustic Confusion on the Village Thing label in 1972. The Melody Maker newspaper made it Album of the Month and Rod Stewart liked it enough to order a box of the albums to give to his friends. In the intervening decades, Steve has recorded numerous albums for such labels as Transatlantic, Cornucopia, Flying Fish, Fellside, Run River and Hubris. His songs have been recorded by the likes of Fairport Convention, Dolores Keane, The House Band, Peter Bellamy, North Cregg, Bob Fox and John Wright. His first novel, All for Poor Jack, an historical tale set in Bristol and the “New World”, was published by Isthmus Books. Last year, he became the subject of a media frenzy when a letter sent to him by John Lennon, back in the early 1970s and not received until forty years later, was used as the basis for the acclaimed Hollywood movie Danny Collins with Al Pacino playing the ‘Steve Tilston character’. Steve found himself on the red carpet in London with Pacino and sharing The One Show (BBC 1 TV) as DJ Andy Kershaw interviewed them both about the Lennon letter and the movie. Several excellent features in such major newspapers as The Guardian, Daily Mirror and the Express, and radio interviews with the likes of Mark Radcliffe for The Folk Show (BBC Radio 2) have not only discussed this but also looked at Steve’s excellent musical career since his first album back in 1972. In October 2011, Steve performed "Oil & Water" from his album ‘The Reckoning’ on ‘Later… With Jools Holland; (BBC TV). He was subsequently interviewed by presenter Jools "at the piano" and the pair paid homage to the late Bert Jansch who had died earlier in the month. In February 2012, the title track from ‘The Reckoning’ was awarded Best Original Song at the BBC Folk Awards (shared with Bella Hardy who polled equal votes). JEZ LOWE is an English folk singer-songwriter. Lowe was born and raised in County Durham, in a family with Irish roots. He is known primarily for his compositions dealing with daily life in North-East England, particularly in his hometown of Easington Colliery. A double nomination in the 2015 BBC Folk Awards – for best singer and best new song – was a timely reminder of Jez Lowe’s standing in the UK folk and acoustic music scene. Not only he is one of the busiest live performers in the country, but his songs are among the most widely sung by other performers, whether by long-established acts like Fairport Convention, The Dubliners and Bob Fox, or by the new breed of stars like The Unthanks, The Young Uns and The Duhks. Jez’s own long-established band The Bad Pennies (featuring Kate Bramley, Andy May and David De La Haye) continue to attract a huge following, and his other collaborations with The Pitmen Poets (with Billy Mitchell, Bob Fox and Benny Graham), The Broonzies (alongside fellow-veterans Maggie Holland, Chris Parkinson and Roger Wilson), Men at Words (with James Keelaghan and Archie Fisher), the BBC Radio Ballads and with fellow-songwriter Steve Tilston, show a willingness to push boundaries and venture boldly into pastures fresh. Providing breadth and depth to the backing of many songs on this new duo album we also find ‘Bad Pennies’ and solo fiddler Kate Bramley, ‘The Durbervilles’ Mark Boyce (Drums) and David Crickmore (Bass/Percussion), and double bass specialist Hugh Bradley. The job of pulling this anarchic band of troubadours together in the studio fell to David Crickmore as producer and engineer for the album, with mastering finishing touches supplied by eclectic musician (‘Monster Ceilidh Band’, ‘The Bad Pennies’) and sound engineer David de la Haye. So listen in as two of the UK Folk scene’s outstanding singer-songwriters, prolific and well-travelled performers, and most widely covered artists, go head to head - and neck and neck (guitar necks, that is!) - to entertain you. From first to last notes the 11 brand new tracks that make up ‘The Janus Game’ represent a masterclass in songwriting and musicianship to be savoured by fans and newcomers alike. "Brave British Folk" - THE GUARDIAN.